THE Denny Cup produced a thriller for New Earswick Bowls Club as they were beaten 73-72 by Leeds in the extra end.

New Earswick had an 18-shot lead at home after winning 25-12, but a 29-13 defeat in Leeds left the scores tied at 72-72.

In the extra end in Leeds between Bill Waldie’s rink and Phil Hill’s, it was a measure with just one wood to go, with home captain Hill drawing the shot to win the match.

At home, Eric Cookson, Dave Sykes, Colin Ellis and Ralph Tiplady had, after six ends, a 5-4 lead which they increased to 15-4 after 12 ends.

Leeds replied, winning the next five ends to narrow the deficit to two before both sides claimed two of the last four ends, with Earswick scoring five to Leeds’ two for a 20-15 win.

Bob Elliot, Brian Gray, Andrew Fothergill and Kevin Liddell led their opponents’ rink 7-5 after five ends, slowly increasing their lead to an eventual 25-12 win.

Over at Leeds, Paul Murray, Brian Birch, Garry Jones and Waldie’s match against Hill’s rink produced just eight singles in the first eight ends – with Leeds winning six of them.

Leeds then won five of the next six ends to lead 13-5 before Earswick answered, claiming seven of the last eight to go down 16-14, with five only being singles.

Andy Humphreys, Steve Hudson, Mick Head and Paul Dawson dropped threes at the first two ends to fall 9-1 behind after five ends, but fought back well to 11-10 after 12.

But the visiting rink then dropped a six and two fours, only scoring three singles in the last nine ends to go down 29-13 before Leeds skipper Hill stepped up for the final winning shot.

New Earswick Ladies started their season with a 70-63 win over Leeds.

At home, Lynn Page, Sue Adams, Margaret Pearson and Majorie Watson won six of the first seven ends to lead their opposition 10-1.

Despite only winning three of the next eight ends, they led 15-8 with just three ends to go but dropped a four and consecutive twos to lose 15-16.

Kay Hutchinson, Kath Hardcastle, Diane Hardy and Norma Davies led 9-3 with the help of a four at the sixth end, but the Leeds rink slowly came back into the match, pulling it back to within one shot before Earswick picked up two more fours to win 23-12.

At Leeds, Doramy Bellwood, Jean Cann, Monika Morgan and Kath Sykes were tied at 13-13 after 15 ends, despite dropping two fours, before Leeds won the last three ends for a 17-13 victory.

After dropping a five at the first end, Leslie Nuckey, Ann Lea, Sally Domville and Irene Warrington were always behind, trailing 15-8 with five ends to play.

Earswick then scored a seven to level the scores, and each side scored a single before Earswick scored a three and Leeds a two for a 19-18 win for Earswick.

New Earswick Ospreys suffered 84-67 defeat to Hornsea Hawks in a two-day over-55s game.

At home on the first day, Jim Robinson, Charles Twissell, Vic Reed and Ray Mawson got off to a flier, winning 10 of the first 11 ends to lead 15-2, but the Hornsea rink dominated the second half of the match winning eight of the last 10 ends to pull the score back to 19-13.

The other home rink of Gordon Fratson, Dave Counter, Dave Booth and Alwyn Anderson were one down after seven ends but went on to win the next four ends to take a 12-5 lead.

Hornsea fought back to just a three-shot deficit with five ends to go, but the Earswick rink picked up a three a four and a five to go on to win 27-12, taking all four home points and a 21-shot lead into the away leg.

In the away legs, Gordon Johnson, Ian Carr, Howard Darrell and Barrie Shipley found themselves 25-4 down after 15 ends. Despite picking up a couple of fours in the last six ends, they went down 29-13.

In the other away game, Steve Connolly, Dave Toms, Vic Wolley and Bob Barrett got off to an even worse start, dropping a four and a seven to fall 17-2 down after seven ends before scoring only six more shots on the way to a 33-8 defeat.